Bad back

Well I went ahead and blew out my back again and now Im on some fun pain medications that make me feel quite fuzzy.

So I went ahead in my haze actually tied (marlin style lacing, scroll down here to see) my sail to the yard and boom as opposed to using plastic zip-ties, though those worked really well.  I optimized my downhaul a little better and most importantly, added a cleat on the boom to give me one level of outhaul purchase.  The outhaul runs from the clew to a loop at the end of the boom, then forward to a cleat.  Only one purchase, but already a marked improvement.  I re-tied the block tiedowns, re-sat the haylard block in the yard, jimmied things nice and straight and shes ready to rock now. 

Hopefully all this will take care of wrinkles, gaps, and inefficient sail shapes that have hindered speed and progress so far.  Time will tell.

Back, heal thyself!  Wind bring your forces to me!  Zinea, Pterodactylus, fly!

Isles of Shoals

From here to here and back again.  20+ kts of Westerly winds, 3-4 foot swells.  An adventure.

Hauling Out

I direct you to this thread for Haul-Out techniques and discussion.  The thread does not start at haul out techniques but transitions to it.  Below is my first attempt at hauling out my Goat Island Skiff to a location that will keep her off the rocks, but keep me from swimming in grassy waters or wading up to my waste in mud depending on the tides.  Basically, its a way for a voyaging sailing dinghy to access unfriendly places without undo damage to her hull.

Here I am hauled out at high tide...

...and low tide...

As you can see, I set one anchor, and to it attach a loop of line that will be secured ashore.  The skiff is tied to the loop and can be hauled in.  Again, I strongly encourage the intrepid reader to read the above linked post for more details and minutiae on this theory.

And now some VIDEO!  Goat Island Skiff Amateur Style is hitting the silver utubes screen!  This is really the epitome of dorkiness as this blog, these videos, and myself attest.  Im a little loud initially near the camera, but then not so loud later, so have your finger on the volume button.  All taken with my little point and click camera.

Haul Out!  The Automaton Goat Island Skiff!



Haul In!



YEAH!